Scouting Tuslaw at Fairless

The teams: Tuslaw is dealing with something it’s not very familiar with, especially during Nate Held’s tenure at the school – a two-game Principals Athletic Conference losing streak.

CHRIS EASTERLING

The teams: Tuslaw is dealing with something it’s not very familiar with, especially during Nate Held’s tenure at the school – a two-game Principals Athletic Conference losing streak. The Mustangs’ back-to-back losses to Manchester (35-0) and Triway (3-0 last week) is the first time the program has lost two PAC games in a row since 2007, when they dropped consecutive decisions to Tusky Valley and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. The losses have dropped Tuslaw to 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the conference. Tuslaw’s offense found itself bogged down a bit last week in the muck and mire at Triway, the second straight week it was shut out and limited to less than 100 yards. When the Mustangs are rolling, they are generally riding the running of tailback Mason Miller, who is closing in on 1,000 yards for the season. Miller’s been the workhorse of the offense, but far from the only weapon. Quarterback Justin Erfurth has provided a dual threat, as he has thrown the ball well for the most part this season while keeping it on an array of quarterback keepers as well. Erfurth’s favorite targets this season have been Dain Granitsas and Jerrod Combs, although Justin Hann and Miller each had a pair of receptions last week at Triway. The Mustang defense rebounded well from the lopsided loss to Manchester by holding – with some help from the wet weather – Triway’s explosive offense to its lowest point total of the season. Held credited Treg Grubb and Tyler Alban up front, along with Mike Blair, with getting some pressure on the Titans along the line of scrimmage. That left it up to the secondary, which featured Erfurth and Graham Burrow at cornerback and Joe Sanders and James Martin at safety.
Fairless second-year coach Tim Wolf saw progress from his team in last week’s game against Tusky Valley. For a half. But after he team trailed 7-6 at halftime, it surrendered 21 unanswered second-half points to fall 28-7 to the Trojans. That left Fairless at 1-8 overall and 1-5 in the PAC. What Wolf is hopeful for is to see his team build off that first half and carry that progress through a full four quarters. Among the progress Wolf saw was in the passing game, where the Falcons picked up a 20-yard touchdown pass from Keith Studer to Morgan Reusser against Tusky Valley. That was the Falcons’ only completion on six attempts, but Wolf still believes strides are being taken, especially in the way Studer has played at the position. A serviceable passing game can take the pressure off of Fairless’ running game, which has been anchored by Travis Fritz and Beau Wenger. Defensively, the Falcons have gotten solid play from their linebackers, Wenger and Joe Hammel.

The key matchups: This will come down to Fairless’ offense against Tuslaw’s defense. The Falcon offense snapped a two-game shutout streak with a first-quarter score against Tusky Valley. The problem was, those were the only points Fairless would score on the night. That has been a reoccurring trend for Fairless this season, one which absolutely must change if it has any hope of avoiding its 13th straight loss to its archrivals. To do that, it will have to move the ball on a Tuslaw defense which has been strong up front, meaning the Falcons will have to do a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage.

Streaks, stats and facts: Fairless leads the overall series between the two backyard rivals 25-22-1, although it has been Tuslaw which has dominated the series of late, winning the last 12. The Falcons’ last win in the series was in 1996, a 21-14 win at Tuslaw. The 12-game win streak the Mustangs are currently on is the longest win streak for either team in the series. Fairless won nine in a row between 1965-72. ... Miller was held to his second straight sub-100-yard rushing game, as he gained 42 yards on 14 carries. He still has 920 yards on 191 carries for the season with 14 touchdowns. ... Erfurth was 5-of-10 passing for 30 yards against the Titans. Miller and Hann each had two catches, while Granitsas had another one for 10 yards. ... Tuslaw has been held to 139 yards over the last two weeks combined. ... Mike Blair leads the Mustangs with 89 total tackles, with Martin second with 73 stops. ... Martin and Burrow each had an interception against Triway. ... Combs recovered a fumble caused by Grubb against Triway. ... Fairless rushed for 65 yards as a team against Tusky Valley. ... Wenger is up over 60 tackles on the season for the Falcons. He also is in double figures for tackles for loss. ... Reusser has three catches for 67 yards and a touchdown this season. ... Fairless has given up 1,678 yards rushing and 1,383 yards through the air.

Coach speak: “They’ve got some good, young linemen coming up,” Tuslaw’s Held said. “They’re doing a nice job of coming off the ball. Beau Wenger and Fritz are doing a nice job in the backfield of moving the ball. They’re starting to settle into their offense a little bit. They’re going to come after us and they’re going to keep fighting us. Watching them on film, they’re not giving up and they’re working hard. We know coming into this that they’re going to give it their all.”
“They’re a good football team,” Fairless’ Wolf said. “They have some good size. They have two defensive ends who are big and physical. They are a very aggressive defense. Defensively, they do a good job of flying to the football. Offensively, they’re sound in what they do. They have a pretty good offensive line and a good running back with Miller, as well as a quarterback who can throw it real well and can take off and run with the ball. They’re very much a good team.”

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